Episode V and three quarters
by Tetsuwan Penguin
Summary: This is the second Episode of my Astro Boy X Star Wars crossover, this time a lampoon of "The Empire Strikes Back". Once again characters from Tezuka's star system take most of the roles. Bender from Futurama is back as 3P0. Rated "T" due to Bender's language!
1. Chapter 1

**EPISODE V and Three Quarters**

**Part 1**

* * *

_Authors Note:_

_This is the second episode of the Star Wars X Astro Boy cross over. Obviously this one is with "The Empire Strikes Back". Once again Tezuka's star system characters take all the roles._

* * *

**The rebels ** might have scored a major victory with the destruction of the Death Star battle station, but the evil Empire had quickly fought back, chasing the alliance from system to system. The rebel alliance was now hold out on the ice world Frigidaire. The Empire was searching for the stronghold, and had dispatched their star cruisers to launch robot probes to seek out the rebels. Several of these probes landed on Frigidaire a few miles from the base.

It was a few hours before nightfall and the last of the patrols were finishing up their runs before returning to the base to hunker down for the incredibly cold night. Inside the hangar, Atlas Solo and Blue Bon were yelling at each other while trying to repair the Millennium Phoenix.  
"Why did you take that apart?" Atlas yelled at Blue Bon. "That wasn't the broken system! Put it back together and work on the other one!"

Princess Uran passed through the hangar and noticed Atlas.  
"I heard you will be leaving us?" she said.

"Yes, I've got some debts I have to pay off, there is a price on my head." Atlas told her.

Uran sighed and continued on to the command center.

* * *

**Outside **the base, Astro was riding on a Tonton. The furry, horse sized creatures, looked like one part Goat, one part Kangaroo, and one half part Tyrannosaurus Rex. They were adapted well to the cold temperatures of Frigidaire. Astro reported in on his radio.  
"Nothing unusual to report, though I did see an asteroid land and I'm going to check it out."

Behind Astro's back, a Space Yeti snuck up on him. Before Astro could get to his light saber, the Yeti had knocked him off of his mount, knocked him out, and dragged him back to its cave.

* * *

**Bender **ran into Atlas in the hangar.  
"Hey Gearhead! The princess has been trying to get hold of you!" he said.

"Sorry, I shut down my communicator so I could get some work done on my ship and get out of here already." Atlas replied giving Blueie a look. "What does she want, a kiss goodbye?"

"I think she'd rather kiss a Bugblatter beast than you, Gearhead!" Bender said. "She wanted you to know that Astro was late in reporting in from his patrol and is over an hour overdue."

"Damn, the kid's probably got himself into trouble again, I better go out looking for him" Atlas said. "It's getting to cold to fly, I'll have to take one of those disgusting Tonton's out there."

* * *

**Astro woke up** in the Yeti's cave, hanging upside down from the ceiling. The Yeti was eating something at the moment and had its back to him. Astro's light saber was inches beyond his reach on the floor below him. He stretched out his arm and willed the weapon to his hand. Slowly he was able to attract the saber to him using the force. He clicked open the blade and cut himself free from the ice. The Yeti heard him, turned and came running at him. Astro quickly cut the beast in half with the glowing blade. He stumbled out of the cave, and trudged though the howling snow that was now falling. Astro knew he had little time to get back to the base before he'd freeze up. Suddenly, Ochanomize appeared before him in a vision.  
"O'Shay?" Astro called out.

"Astro, you must go to the Dayglowbah system and learn the ways of the force from Yoda Shunsuke Ban." Ochanomize said.

**Atlas** found Astro lying in the snow. As soon as he dismounted his Tonton the beast dropped dead from the cold.  
"You're lucky I got here just in time, you almost froze to death, kid!" he said, slapping Astro awake.

Atlas morphed his arm into a laser cannon and blasted out a large opening into a huge snowdrift to make a small cave. He pulled Astro into the cave and stuffed his backpack into the opening to shield against the howling winds.  
"Looks like we're stuck in here till morning" he said.

**A small** one man reconnaissance aircraft buzzed over the dunes of fresh snow in the bright early morning daylight.  
"Rogue Two to base." Reno radioed "I haven't spotted them yet, still looking"

In the distance Atlas scanned the skies looking for a patrol. He knew that the rebel forces wouldn't abandon them quite yet, even though the odds of survival in the night cold were dim. Atlas spotted the contrails of the aircraft in the distance, and he shot off a flare gun.

Reno continued to make big circles around the area where Astro was last patrolling. He suddenly spotted the red flare rising about ninety degrees off his port side. Reno sharply banked the aircraft and zoomed over Atlas's position. He saw Atlas and Astro standing by the mouth of a snow cave, waving at him. Reno flopped the stick back and forth to waggle his wings as a welcoming sign.  
"Base this is Rogue Two. I've spotted them, and they look just fine!" he radioed back. " I'm sending over the coordinates now. Better send over a transport to pick them up!"

* * *

**The intelligence **officers in the battle cruiser were going over the intel from the last batch of probes to report in.  
"That could be them" one of the officers said excitedly.

"It doesn't look very impressive though" the other one said. "I think we need to examine the rest of the photographs."

Darth Shadow walked up to the console where the two officers were examining the spy photos and looked at the one currently displaying.

"That's it!" he announced.

"But Lord Shadow, we've still got many more possibilities. Are you certain?" the officer asked.

"There is no doubt in my mind about this. Thank you for your efforts" Shadow replied.

Vader spoke into the intercom to the ship's bridge. "Set course for the Frigidaire system at once!"

* * *

**The medical officer **examined Astro and pronounced him fit for duty. He and Atlas went out on their mounts to investigate the so called meteor impacts picked up on radar. What they found was a robot probe taking pictures of the base.

Atlas shot at the 'bot with a small laser fire, and the probe exploded.  
"Looks like it had a self destruct device inside." He shrugged.

Astro radioed back to the base. "Looks like we've been discovered by the Empire."

* * *

**Princess Uran** was in the command center with the base officers.  
"We've spotted a fleet of Imperial battle cruisers heading our way." The base commander told her. "We better get ready for an invasion and put our escape plans into high gear."

The first of the transports carrying non-essential personal left under a covering of ion cannon fire as the first of the Imperial landing craft touched down out of radar contact from the base. Several huge armored walker tanks were unloaded and started their trek toward the base.

**Astro**, Reno, and Tamao prepared to board their fighters to deal with the Imperial walkers. Bender was standing near the ships with a shit eating grin on his face, and a cigar clamped in his teeth.  
"I've loaded your bomb bays with a secret weapon!" he smirked. "If you can't blast through their armor, just dump your load in front of them and it'll stop them cold!"

"Thank's Bender." Astro said, not really sure what the obnoxious robot had in mind.

"Put out that cigar, you loose nut!" one of the line crew yelled at Bender. "You want to start a fire?"

Bender swallowed the stogie and belched smoke.

* * *

**The** three aircraft buzzed around the first of the armored walking tanks, pelting it with laser fire. The crews on the walkers fired back at the fighters, scoring some minor hits.

"I don't think we can get close enough to do any damage to them with our lasers" Reno said.

"Should we give Bender's secret weapon a try?" Tamao asked.

"Go for it" Astro replied.

Tamao started a run in front of the lead walker, while Astro and Reno provided cover fire. He zoomed low in front of the walker and hit the release button. Bender's secret weapon turned out to be a ton of over-ripe banana peels that fell in a gooey pile right in front of the machine. The yucky fruit ruined the traction under the feet of the walker and the tank slipped and fell over on its side. Reno got off a quick shot at the exposed underside of the armored vehicle and hit a vital area. The walker blew up in a shower of flames.

Reno dumped his mess in front of the second walker with similar results. The crew of the third walker were now wise to the tactics and were more careful. Astro's ship was hit with laser fire as he tried to slip them up and he crashed right in front of the tank. He saw the machine lumbering toward him and manged to pop the cockpit open and jump out seconds before the heavy feet of the walker crushed his aircraft. Astro jumped up onto one of the machine's rear legs and looked up. There was a ledge just by the top of the leg where he could grab onto. He leaped into the air, leaving a trail of jet exhaust behind him, and grabbed onto the ledge with his right hand. While dangling in mid are he tossed a grenade into an exhaust port on the bottom of the machine, and then leaped clear, landing in the snow behind the walker. There were several small explosions and then one big one as the walker self destructed and fell down in pieces.

* * *

**More **walkers landed than the remaining force could deal with as the base continued with the evacuation. The imperial forces knocked out the shield generators and the base came under heavy bombardment from the orbiting battle ships. Astro made it back to the base just in time to find his X-wing fighter being loaded with supplies and Trashcan being lowered into position behind the pilot's seat. Astro took off, heading for the Dayglowbah system to find this Yoda Shunsuke Ban that Ochanomizu mentioned.

* * *

**Meanwhile** Atlas and Blue Bon had barely gotten the Millennium Phoenix ready for takeoff. With the last of the transport ships barely getting off the base before the heavy bombardment got even worse, Princess Uran and Bender got on board the Phoenix. Atlas had to blast his way out of the hangar just as the Imperial forces arrived, and the Phoenix found itself in space surround by TIE fighters and battle cruisers. Bender looked the ship over and realized they were in trouble.  
"Hey Gearhead..." he yelled at Atlas who shot back "Shut up, and don't bother me while I'm trying to out fly these guys!"

Atlas started the sequence to jump to light speed, and yanked the throttle, but nothing happened.

"Like I tried to tell you, Gearhead" Bender yelled "We're boned. The stardrive motorvater is FUBAR"

Atlas shrugged (_Author: Damn I was waiting for a chance to say that!_) and took evasive maneuvers to avoid the TIE fighters. Up ahead of the Phoenix the radar indicated the presence of an asteroid field, Atlas quickly banked the ship and turned into it.

"Gearhead are you nuts!" Bender yelled. "The odds of successfully navigating an asteroid field are about a zillion to one against!"

"Don't ever quote me odds!" Atlas shot back at Bender.

"Don't you think he has a point?" Princess Uran yelled back at Atlas.

"The empire fighters would have to be nuts to enter an asteroid field to follow me!" Atlas replied.

Atlas flew the Phoenix at high speed, artfully dodging the oncoming boulders while many of the TIE fighters chasing after them collided with the asteroids, or each other. Atlas brought the ship close to a large asteroid.

"There, that looks like a good spot to hide" he said and flew the ship into a large cave on the surface of the moonlet.

* * *

**Darth Shadow **stood alone in his private chamber to talk to the emperor over a holographic communications link. Shadow kneeled down before the image of the leader of the empire. The emperor wore a gray hooded robe, much like the Tetsuwan Knights did, the same as Professor Ochanomizu had. He had an aged face with many wrinkles, and a large round nose. Under his hood, the eyeglasses and Beret cap that he also wore were plainly visible.

"We have a problem Lord Shadow" the emperor told Shadow. "The offspring of Umatarō Tenma must not be allowed to live long enough to become a Tetsuwan Knight."

"But if he could be converted to the dark side?" Darth Shadow replied "He would be a valuable asset to the empire."

"Yes, he would." The emperor replied. "Do you think that you will be able to convert young Astro?"

"Yes I do, my lord!" Shadow answered.

"Then I will allow you to try." The emperor replied.

The holographic image faded, and Darth Shadow stood up and left the chamber.


	2. Chapter 2

**Episode V and Three Quarters**

**Part 2**

**While **a good chunk of the imperial fleet was busy combing the asteroid belt for the Millennium Phoenix, Blue Bon and Atlas were attempting to repair the ship's hyperdrive. The cave that the ship was hiding in didn't seem to stable, every so often the ground shook beneath the ship and they heard strange noises from deep in the cave.

* * *

**Astro **made it safely to the DayGlowBah system, and prepared to land on Yoda Shunsuke Ban's planet. The world was covered with thick clouds and Astro didn't see the surface until he was almost upon it. He quickly banked to avoid some dense undergrowth, and set down in what appeared to be a clearing. The surface of DayGlowBah V was covered with a huge swamp, and Astro's ship landed on the firmer part of a shallow bog. He grabbed his supplies and jumped from the cockpit into waist high water. Trashcan climbed out of the ship and fell into the bog, completely underwater. He extended a periscope above the water and followed Astro to shore.

Astro set up camp for the night, hoping to find Yoda Shunsuke Ban in the morning. While he was eating some of the rations he had in his supplies, he was suddenly come upon by a short little man wearing a green Tetsuwan knight like robe. The little person had started to look through Astro's supplies had had tried to pocket a lantern, but Trashcan had grabbed his hand. "Bark Barkbark!"

"Who are you?" Astro asked.

"I should ask you that, young fellow." Replied the strange looking little man. He was shorter than Astro was, and had a mostly bald head and a large mustache.

"I'm looking for a great Tetsuwan warrior named Yoda Ban" Astro said.

"Know him well, I do." the little man said. "I can take you too him."

**He** started to walk along a narrow pathway, and motioned for Astro to follow him. They reached a small hut deep in the swamp. It had a very low ceiling, and was rather cramped inside, the small man didn't need very much of a house. Trashcan sat outside in the rain while Astro crawled inside to follow the strange man into his house.

"Eat you should, a Tetsuwan needs nourishment" The little fellow told him.

Astro spooned out some of the stew that was cooking over the fire into a small bowl and tasted it. It wasn't bad, whatever it was. He handled the pot to his host who ate what was left, right out of the pot.

"How far is this Yoda Ban from here, and when can I get to meet him?" Astro asked.

"Not far from here Yoda is. Soon you shall meet." the little man told him.

The strange little man in the green robe turned to face the far wall and spoke to himself out loud. Astro was able to overhear him.

"This one has no patience. He will be difficult to teach." he said.

"He will learn patience" Answered the disembodied voice of Ochanomizu.

"He is reckless and a fool!" The impish little man argued.

"So was I when you first started training me, Yoda" Ochanomizu countered.

"You're Yoda Shunsuke Ban?" Astro cried out.

"He is too old to train." Yoda Ban argued.

"No I'm not!" Astro entered the argument.

"Will he finish what he starts?" Yoda asked.

"Yes I will!" Astro answered. "I'm not afraid!"

"You will be!" Yoda told him.

* * *

**Bender **was looking out of the ship's view port as some sort of tentacle slapped across it.  
"Hey you guys! There's something out there!" he said.

"You're crazy" Atlas yelled at him from way back in the ship's engine room.

Suddenly the cave they were in belched.

"Don't blame that one on me!" Bender yelled back.

"I think maybe we better go out and take a look" Atlas suggested.

He lowered the gangway and he and Blue Bon headed outside.

"I'm coming with you." Princess Uran replied, grabbing a blaster gun.

"I'll stay inside and guard the ship!" Bender offered.

The surface of the cave was covered with a gooey fog. It was damp and musty and rather foul smelling.

"This doesn't look like any cave I've ever been in." Atlas said.

The ship was starting to become covered with some kind of mucous like slim that hung down from the ceiling and slowly crawled all over the skin of the craft. Blue Bon fired his laser gun at the tendrils hanging from the ceiling. Each time he did this the cave shook and made a moaning sound.

"I've got a bad feeling about this." Uran sighed.

Atlas fired his arm laser at the ground and got the same reaction from the cave.

"Come on everyone, back in the ship, we're getting out of here!" He yelled.

"But the imperial fleet may still be out there looking for us." Uran protested.

"Can't worry about that now!" Atlas said. "Blueie start the engines and get us out of here."

Blue Bon got the ship started, and Atlas quickly turned it around and retraced their path. Just as they got to the mouth of the cave, the opening started to close up.

"The cave is collapsing" Uran cried.

"That's no cave!" Atlas yelled.

As the ship barely cleared what was left of the opening, the mouth of the giant worm like creature they had been inside of, snapped shut behind them and reared its huge head out of the opening in the asteroid. The Phoenix was back in the asteroid field, and once again was being chased by a star destroyer and a bunch of TIE fighters.

* * *

**Astro **stood balanced on his head using the telekinetic power of the force to lift and hold objects in the air. He lost his concentration and things fell to the ground.

"There is much you need to learn about yourself and the force!" Yoda told him.

"I don't understand" Astro said. "What is the force?"

"The force is the power of living thought." Yoda replied. "All intelligent life in the universe is bound by it. The Tetsuwan Knights learned how to channel this energy within them and use it constructively. The force has dark side. It can be used for destruction, leading to corruption and evil. A Tetsuwan Knight learns how to avoid the dark side and not be trapped by it. Your are special, you have a gift"

"What's so special about me?" Astro asked.

"Know you do, already you have tapped into your unique abilities without realizing it." Yoda told him "Search yourself, you will realize what you really are!"

Yoda let Astro to a dark part of the swamp where there was tunnel of thick overgrowth.  
"You will find your darkest fears in there. Face them if you dare!" Yoda urged him on.

Astro entered the darkness. He found himself face to face with Darth Shadow. The two of them drew they light sabers and dueled. Astro eventually beheaded Shadow, and his helmet fell off. Under the dark mask Astro saw his own face.

Later, back at Yoda's hut Astro stared into the fire. The flames crackled and in the mist of the smoke he saw a vision. Uran, Atlas and Blue Bon were held captive by the imperial forces lead by Shadow. They were being tortured.

"Yoda, I'm seeing a vision of my friends being held prisoner." Astro cried.

"The force sometimes gives us a glance of the future, sometimes it is only a possible future, it is hard to tell" Yoda explained.

"I must go and help!" Astro blurted.

"Your vision is uncertain." Ochanomizu's voice replied. "An untrained Tetsuwan Knight is no match for Shadow, you must complete your training."

"But my friends are in trouble!" Astro answered. "I promise I will return and complete my training!"

"Astro, I don't want to lose you to the dark side of the force as I did Shadow." Ochanomizu told him. "you must be careful and don't let your anger consume you or you will be consumed by the power of the dark side!"

"I'll be careful" Astro said.

Astro packed up his ship and took off to find Uran, Atlas and Blue Bon.

"That boy is our last chance!" Ochanomizu sighed.

"No. There is another!" Yoda Shunsuke Ban replied.

* * *

"**Blueie **prepare to make the jump to light speed!" Atlas said.

Blue Bon locked in the controls and threw the hyperdrive throttle into full. Nothing happened.

"I thought you guys had repaired the hyperdrive!" Princess Uran said.

"Don't blame me, we replaced the damaged parts. I guess our spares were broken as well!" Atlas sighed.

"Hey Gearhead! That last hit we took knocked our our rear shields. One more hit back there and we're boned!" Bender yelled.

"Blueie, crank up the front shield full!" Atlas said as he turned the ship around and headed straight for the battle cruiser.

"Oh shit, we're boned!" Bender yelled "The odds of surviving a direct assault against a battle cruiser are.."

"I said, don't quote me odds!" Atlas yelled back at Bender.

**The** Millennium Phoenix made one pass at the battle cruiser before vanishing behind their radar.

"Where did they go!" the captain of the dreadnought yelled at the radar officer.

"They were on my scope a minute ago and then just vanished!" the radar operator replied.

"Very sneaky!" Princess Uran said patting Atlas on the back.

The Phoenix was now hidden, attached to the rear of the radar dish support tower of the battle cruiser. At this position it was in the dreadnought's blind spot.

"We'll wait till they dump their garbage before entering hyperspace to detach and drift free." Atlas replied.

"Yah, and go where?" Uran said.

"Blackjack" Atlas replied.

"There's a Blackjack system?" asked Uran.

"No, Blackjack Calrizion. He's an old buddy of mine." Atlas replied. "He owns a mining colony near here where we can hold out and get some repairs done. We go way back, Blackjack and myself."

"Can you trust him?" Uran asked.

"Probably." Atlas replied. "I know for sure that he hates the Empire."

* * *

**Darth Shadow **didn't take the disappearance of the Millennium Phoenix very well. He stood on the bridge addressing the army of assembled bounty hunters.

"You may use any means necessary to find Princess Uran and Atlas Solo. However, I want them alive. The Empire will reward you greatly for any information you can find." Shadow told the assembled mob.

Soon, about a dozen assorted ships left the fleet as the bounty hunters left on their quest.

One of the ships lay behind and waited. The battle cruiser dumped its trash and departed at warp speed. One of the larger bits of garbage took off and left the rest of the floating debris. The bounty hunter's ship took off and followed it.

* * *

**The Millennium Phoenix** dropped below the clouds of Duckpin, flanked by a dozen small escort craft that herded them toward the assigned landing bay of the huge floating city. The mining complex extracted rare gases from the atmosphere of Duckpin, for use in industrial facilities. The Phoenix landed and Atlas shut down the engines.

"You're sure you can trust this guy?" Uran asked again.

"I told you we go way back." Atlas assured her.

As they stepped out of the ship, a tall character dressed in a black robe approached them. He had a ribbon bow tie hanging in front of him. His hair was half black and half white, and he had a large scar across his face.

"You had a lot of nerve coming back here after what you pulled!" Blackjack yelled at Atlas.

Atlas gave him a "who me?" look as Blackjack kept approaching with an angry look on his face.

At the last moment, Backjack leapt forward and put his arms around Atlas to give him a big hug.

"Just kidding old friend! Glad to see you again!" Blackjack cried out. "How's my old ship working out for you? That POS is the fastest hung of junk in the galaxy!"

"Your ship?" Atlas smiled. "I won her fair and square from you in a poker game! How's the mining business doing?"

"I get by." Blackjack replied.

They entered the complex and Blackjack's mood seemed to tighten. "Some friends of yours are here and wanted to meet you over diner." he said motioning them toward another room.

**Bender** managed to get lost and found himself in another part of the complex. He wandered into an darked area and didn't like what he saw.  
"Oh shit, sorry, I got lost! I'll be leaving, Bye!" Bender was grabbed from behind and thrown down a garbage chute into the basement of the facility.

**The** door opened leading into a small reception room. There was indeed a dinner table set up with some Hors d'oeuvres, but standing in front of them was Darth Shadow and some storm troopers.

"I'm sorry, I had no choice!" Blackjack said. "They arrived here just before you landed! Besides, they don't want you, they're looking for someone named Astro Skywalker!"

"You sonofabitch traitor!" Atlas yelled back.

"Princess Uran and Blue Bon can remain here with you" Shadow said. "The bounty hunter wants Atlas, seems his boss Garron the Mutt has dibs on him."

The group was led at gunpoint through the city to an industrial facility.

"What is the purpose of this machinery?" Shadow asked.

"We use this for Corbomite freezing" Blackjack replied.

"Excellent! When Astro gets here he can be frozen before transporting him back to the emperor!"

"It's never been used on a person, it might kill him!" Blackjack's protested.

"Then try it out on Atlas here" Shadow replied.

The storm troopers threw Atlas into the machine and started it up. A huge cloud of white smoke erupted and a pair of machine jaws extracted the resulting black block of Corbomite. Atlas was encased in it. Blackjack carefully examined it.

"He's still alive." he said.

"Very good, reset the machine for Astro!" Shadow ordered.


	3. Chapter 3

**Episode V and Three Quarters**

**Part 3**

**Princess Uran** and Blue Bon were thrown into a side room and the door was locked. Lying on the floor were the pieces of Bender who had been ripped apart and thrown into a large box.

"Oh no!" Uran sighed. "Do you think you can repair him?" she asked Blue Bon.

The Phoenix's first mate shrugged his shoulders and picked up Bender's torso and started to look for the other parts in the box. He picked up Bender's head and managed to connect it to his body, and then started with the arms. He adjusted various circuits and double checked the wiring. Benders eyes lit up and his mouth came on line.

"Oh no, the Imperial Assholes are here, I've got to warn the others!" Bender cried out. His eyes came into focus and he saw Blue Bon trying to get one of his legs connected to his body. He suddenly realized things were not as they should be.

"You Gearheaded moron!" Bender yelled. "You've get me upside down! You stuffed my neck up my shinny metal asshole, you Dildo!"

At that moment the door opened and Blackjack appeared with a few of his loyal personal.

"Quick, there's still a chance to save Atlas from the bounty hunter. We've managed to lock up most of Shadow's storm troopers. If we hurry we can beat them to the ship before they take off!"

Blue Bon grabbed Bender and the rest of his limbs and carried them. He and Uran followed Blackjack through the corridors, keeping an eye out for any of the storm troopers that hadn't been ambushed.

* * *

**Astro's ship **landed on the opposite side of the complex from the Millennium Phoenix. He snuck into the complex, and proceeded to search for his friends. Trashcan left the ship and hid near where the Millennium Phoenix was docked. Astro turned into a side corridor to find Darth Shadow waiting for him.

"We meet at last, young Astro Skywalker!" Shadow said in his deep electronic voice. "The Emperor has predicted that you would someday destroy him and has asked for your death. I convinced him that you could be turned to the dark side and become our ally."

"Never!" Astro yelled back, unsheathing his light saber.

Shadow opened his weapon as well and swung it at Astro.

Astro parried the thrust and returned his own which Shadow blocked. Darth Shadow was a stronger swordsman than Astro and the young Tetsuwan found himself retreating backwards down the corridor through an equipment tunnel leading into the central shaft of the complex.

"Give in to the dark side, young Astro!" Shadow commanded. "Turn your hatred toward me toward the force and give in to it!"

"Never!" Astro yelled back, becoming more reckless in his swordplay.

Shadow used his free hand to gesture toward heavy objects in the corridor and used the force to rip them free from their moorings to fling them at Astro.

Astro ducked and flinched as Shadows missiles flew at him. He continued to fight his enemy, but was still loosing ground. Shadow used the force to open up an airway, causing a huge draft to knock Astro off his feet. The young Tetsuwan was blasted through a window in the side of the room and out into the central shaft of the floating city. Astro grabbed hold of a ladder and pulled himself up onto a gangway leading from the outer wall of the deep shaft toward the central pillar. Shadow was waiting for him.

Again they battled using their sabers, Shadow was backing Astro up toward the end of the walkway and a long fall toward the bottom of the shaft.

"You murdered my father!" Astro yelled as he swung his saber at the dark lord.

"No Astro." Shadow said. "I AM your father!"

"NO, THAT CAN'T BE!" Astro cried, continuing his attack against Shadow.

"Reach out with your feelings Astro. You know it to be true!" Shadow replied.

"No!" Astro yelled, though he realized that Shadow spoke the truth.

Shadow swung his saber once again, this time connecting with Astro's right wrist. The appendage was neatly sliced off, it and the saber in the hand went sailing out into the void. Sparks flew from the end of Astro's arm where the hand had just been.

"AHHH!" Astro cried out in pain. He backed up against the end of the gangway railing.

"Don't make me destroy you!" Shadow pleaded. "Join me, and we will rule the galaxy together as father and son!"

"Never!" Astro cried, and he leaped over the railing to fall toward the bottom of the shaft.

Without realizing it, Astro used his leg jets to guide himself toward the far wall of the shaft. He slid down toward the bottom of the deep well and out of a trap door at the bottom of the city. There he hung from the lower beacon antenna of the floating structure. Astro reached out with his mind and felt Uran's presence. "Uran!" he cried out, both in voice and using the force.

* * *

**Uran, Blackjack, **and the Blue Bon found their way toward the landing area. They realized that they had arrived just moments too late as the bounty hunter had just loaded the Corbomite slab with Atlas sealed inside into his ship and was already starting his engines to take off. Before they could fire a blaster shot, the spacecraft had left the pad and was skyward.

"We'll catch up with him!" Blackjack said leading the group toward where the Millennium Phoenix was docked. As soon as they got to the ship, a handful of storm troopers spotted them and a small laser battle began. Blue Bon got on board the ship, dragging the half assembled Bender with him. He left the golden 'bot in a heap on the floor as he powered up the ship's engines for takeoff.

Uran and Blackjack fired a few more blasts at the stormtroopers before running up the gang plank as the ship leaped skyward. Trashcan had already slipped on board.

"I hope your people fixed the hyperdrive or this is going to be a very short trip." Uran said.

"Don't worry!" Blackjack replied. "My loyal friends took care of it!"

The ship left the floating city and started to turn skyward. Uran felt a presence and knew.

"We've got to turn back!" she cried. "Astro needs us!"

Blue Bon reversed course and dove the ship under the city.

"There!" Uran cried out and pointed. They could see Astro hanging from the beacon antenna under the floating metropolis.

"Bring us up slowly and crack open the upper hatch!" Blackjack said. He rode the elevator toward the top of the ship and caught Astro in his arms.

"I've got him! Get us out of here!" Blackjack yelled.

They soon found themselves in space being chased by an Imperial battle ship and many TIE fighters.

"Bring up the hyperdrive now!" Blackjack told Blue Bon. The first mate activated the controls, but nothing happened.

"DAMN!" Blackjack yelled. "It's not my fault! My people fixed the hyperdrive!"

Blue Bon and Blackjack flew the ship back and forth trying to avoid the enemy fighters. They were dodging laser blasts from all directions. Trashcan wobbled over to the ships main wiring conduct where Atlas had tried to fix the hyperdrive connections just a few days ago. He reached inside and removed a small device that had been planted by Shadow's men to deactivate the hyperdrive controls.

Suddenly, the ship lurched forward as the stars turned into lines.

"He fixed the hyperdrive! That dumb rustbucket did it!" Bender yelled.

* * *

**The **Millennium Phoenix was docked with the rebellion's main transport ship. They had managed to outrun the Imperial battle group and had met up with the alliance ships that had escaped from Frigidaire a week ago. Astro was in the infirmary where the robo-technicians had replaced his lost hand with a duplicate. Astro now knew that he was a cyborg, his replacement right hand was a mirror image duplicate of his left hand, that had been reproduced by the ship's robo-technician.

Blackjack and Blue Bon were preparing to leave in the Phoenix.

"We're going after the bounty hunter, and we are going to find Atlas." Blackjack said.

"We wish you luck" Astro and Uran said in unison.

Astro and Uran watched through the large porthole as the Phoenix powered up its hyperdrive and disappeared into hyperspace.

"Here's something I owe you." Uran said, kissing Astro on the libs.

"That didn't quite feel right." Astro told her.

"You know, you're right." Uran said. "Kissing you feels like I'm kissing my brother!"

"Now that's funny!" Bender said butting in. "Try kissing THIS!" he said pointing to his shinny metal ass.

"BARK BARK BARK!" replied Trashcan.

_Authors note:_

_OK, that's done, now only one more movie left to Tezukaize._


End file.
